Three found guilty of human trafficking in Swindon area

Three people have been found guilty of human trafficking after an eight-year police investigation.

It found young women were being trafficked from Romania and made to work in brothels in the Swindon area.

Gigi Ciobanica, 46, of Grasmere Road, Birmingham, Priyantha Yakdehige, 54, of Vasterne Close, Purton, and Cristina Olaru, 31, of Commercial Road, Swindon, were convicted on Tuesday at Winchester Crown Court, after a 10-week trial.

They will be sentenced on 2 February.

Det Supt Richard Nelsen, of Wiltshire Police, said: "Modern slavery is within our communities and is not something any of us can be complacent about in challenging.

"The conditions they worked in were poor and they often worked effectively 24/7 with customers being booked throughout the day and night.

"The exploited women who were not in control of when they worked and those at the top took a heavy slice of any profit which was made."

The addresses the women worked at were owned by Yakdehige.

He arranged and paid for the women's flights, then organised accommodation for them to work and live in.

These were rented out by the leaders of the Romanian gang, Ciobanica and his then-partner Olaru.

Ciobanica funnelled the money back to Romania and built property in his name.

Det Supt Nelson said: "This group has been dismantled within Swindon and the sentencing will send a further message to those who wish to engage in this criminality.

"The police cannot tackle this problem on our own and I would encourage members of our community to report any concerns or suspicions they have of such activity."

Ciobanica was found guilty of conspiracy to engage in human trafficking and money laundering. He has been remanded into custody.

Yakdehige was found guilty of conspiracy to engage in human trafficking and had pleaded guilty to money laundering, while Olaru was found guilty of controlling prostitution for gain and money laundering.

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